MARTIN Jol takes his Fulham foreign legion to Newcastle today with a stark warning for English players: You are pricing yourselves out of the Premier League.

As he prepared to face a Newcastle side bristling with Frenchmen, the affable Dutchman – who is expected to name a team containing nine ‘imports’ – revealed he had been forced to assemble a squad made up almost entirely of foreigners because Fulham can’t afford homegrown players.

“I always wanted to have an English spine but it is too costly,” said Jol. “It is almost impossible to pay those prices, so I have to be inventive.

“I admire Newcastle’s Frenchmen – they remind me of Arsenal. They have done ever so well with their French players. Now we are a cosmopolitan team also.”

Jol said he envies Newcastle’s involvement in Europe, even though he is hoping to cash in on what appears to be a dip in the Geordies’ form when they return from playing abroad.

I always wanted to have an English spine but it is too costly

Martin Jol

Newcastle have lost three in a row, most recently Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg defeat away to Benfica.

They play the return leg on Thursday and round off a run of three home games in a week with the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland three days later. And Toon manager Alan Pardew admitted: “The Fulham game is an important one for us, no doubt about that.

“We want to set ourselves up for Thursday. To do that, we probably need to win.”